The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for refreshing and disinfecting air streams. More particularly, the invention relates to refreshing and disinfecting air streams flowing into or through an environment or room by dispersing a fragrant disinfectant. Still more particularly, the present invention relates to a method and apparatus for refreshing and disinfecting air streams wherein a fragrance, a disinfectant, or other functional liquid is nebulized into an air stream, and the rate of nebulization of the liquid is controlled and determined by personal preferences of a user.
Moreover, in the present context, the term xe2x80x9cfresheningxe2x80x9d means either scenting, disinfecting, or scenting and disinfecting, such as for an air stream or a body of air.
Note that for the purpose of this disclosure the terms xe2x80x9cnebulizedxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9catomizedxe2x80x9d will be considered equivalent and interchangeable.
Scenting and disinfecting of ambient air in human living spaces has been an endeavor since ancient times. Several natural fragrance molecules have both scenting as well as disinfecting properties. In modem times, man has invented many ways of introducing the comfort of improved ambient air in personal, housing and working environments. In recent decades, home and working environments have evolved into tighter closed air systems, which largely re-circulate stale air including airborne particles and microorganisms trapped within these closed environments. Consequently, these closed air environments serve as pockets of particle accumulation (e.g., dust and pollen) and provide a potential growth medium for pathogenic and non-pathogenic microorganisms. Humans presently spend about 90% of their time inside enclosed spaces (i.e., rooms) in homes, hotels, offices, cars, airplanes, restaurants, etc. Much attention has been paid to determining the effects of indoor air quality on the health, comfort, and productivity of the inhabitants. Concepts such as xe2x80x9cSick Building Syndromexe2x80x9d (SBS) and xe2x80x9cPerceived Air Qualityxe2x80x9d have been developed and have become issues of concern to the scientific, technical and financial communities. It is noted that the general notion of xe2x80x9cIndoor Air Qualityxe2x80x9d (IAQ) includes the concepts of (a) ambient air scenting, (b) combating odors and (c) disinfecting. The present invention endeavors to provide an air refreshing solution addressing these issues.
To address the problems inherent to recirculating particle laden and microbe bearing air, the air-conditioning system was recognized early as a means of introducing deodorants, insecticides, moisturizers, bactericides, etc., into an air conditioning stream and thus treating ambient air. One such air-conditioning system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,044,276 to Kauten.
More recent developments relate to dispersing volatiles (i.e., deodorants, insecticides, moisturizers, bactericides, etc.) into the air by the use of a so-called ion wind or ion drag which causes the molecules of the volatiles to be charged and to attach to other particles or bodies in the air such as dust, microorganisms or insects, but also to carpets, furniture, people and pets. (see WO 00/38512)
The combination of antimicrobial and scenting or flavoring capability in industrial compounds has also been previously disclosed as, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,110,888 to Lupo et al.
Most recently, environmental concerns have attracted attention to the quality of ambient air in general, and HVAC systems in particular. Microorganisms, such as mold spores and bacteria, develop well within an environment which is prone to condensation by providing moisture and warmth, and which offers a lot of xe2x80x9cdead volumexe2x80x9d or space to settle in. However, a significant number of these microorganisms become airborne during the inherent carrier function of HVAC systems. Consequently, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), a significant amount of human respiratory problems are related to indoor air pollution (EPA Document Reference Number 402-R-94-007, 1994 and many others).
The term xe2x80x9cair qualityxe2x80x9d can be more broadly interpreted, however. In addition to considering the numbers of particles and microbes in the air, xe2x80x9cair qualityxe2x80x9d also relates in scope to encompass a more hedonistic component of air quality such as air scenting for providing relaxing, stimulating, romantic, etc., characteristics or simply for combating bad odors. Consequently many developments relate to this field of endeavor, such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,267,297 B1 to Contadini et al; U.S. Pat. No. 5,178,327 to Palamand et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,549,247 to Rossman et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,431,859 to Tobin et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 342,584 to Fritz et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,223,182 to Steiner et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,186,869 to Stumpfet al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,147,582 to Holzner et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,038,972 to Muderlak et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 3,677,441 to Nixon et al.; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,591,409 to Watkins.
Most of these disclosed systems rely on some method of controlled scent release by actuation of aerosol cans, by venting air over gel-containing cartridges, or by evaporating scented liquids. More recently disclosed documents teach the use of modern dispensing methods for various liquid substances, which avoid the use of propellant gases. Indeed, some aerosol propellants may negatively affect air quality because their xe2x80x9cVolatile Organic Componentxe2x80x9d (VOC) content and impact may raise related health questions in a manner similar to problems raised with chlorofluorocarbons (CFC""s), which were previously used as propellants. Methods and apparatuses that avoid the use of propellant gases include U.S. Pat. No. 5,529,005 to Gueret, U.S. Pat. No. 6,293,474 B1 to Helf et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,938,117 to Ivri; U.S. Pat. No. 6,196,219 B1 to Hess et al., and more recently EP 01 121 075.4, to Hess et al. These various patents disclose the use of piezo-electric actuation in various configurations to effectively expel liquids without the use of propellants. The advantage of these piezo-electric systems is the excellent rendering and dispersion of scents by expelling small volumes of unaltered liquid substance into the ambient air followed by the efficacious diffusion of the scents due to the production of a large number of extremely small liquid droplets, which dramatically reduces the amount of both fragrance and solvent needed to provide a given scenting result, when compared to the other methods mentioned above. The main problem remaining with most of the devices above, however, is that reliable priming is not achieved and that these devices do not have the ability to function properly in every position within the realm of three-dimensional movement. In addition, the prior art piezoelectric scenting devices do not reliably operate over a wide range of viscosities and surface tensions of the liquid to be expelled by the piezoelectric element. Furthermore, the prior art devices have not been able to mix nebulizable liquids from multiple separate source reservoirs.
Consequently, many desirable liquids used in the piezoelectric prior art devices require the addition of a solvent or solvents in order to be sprayed by these devices. The result of using a solvent is that, at least to some degree, there remain health and air quality issues when a solvent is used. For example, Martens et al. teach, in document WO 00/47335, that the viscosity and surface tension of a liquid to be dispensed can be controlled by adding certain solvents, thereby providing a method of improving the dispensing action of piezo-actuated systems. Although it may be difficult to avoid such solvents completely in order to adequately disperse certain liquids, it is a reasonable objective to minimize the use of solvents.
Further sophisticated techniques and devices directed to ambient air scenting and disinfecting are disclosed in other documents which teach the use of modem electronics in circuits essentially used in the methods of timing, sequencing and dosing of a dispensed medium into various ambient living environments such as home care environments, home entertainment environments, scenting in cars, shopping, lodging, and public entertainment environments. In some cases, scent sensors are used in the electronic control circuitry of the scenting and air freshening devices in order to control the release of the scents and their intensity in the respective environment as disclosed in French document FR 98 04156 to Moy et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,591,409 to Watkins; European document EP 0 831 384 A1 to Muyarama et al.; U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,832,320 and 5,760,873, both to Wittek; and European document EP 00 118 715.2 and corresponding U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/942,118, both to Hess et al. Specifically, EP 00 118 715.2 and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/942,118 are incorporated by reference in their entirety herein.
Another problem with some of the disclosed prior devices and systems is that they are subject to condensation effects due to extensive ducting, which inevitably occurs as a result of ambient temperature differences, condensation in ducts, pollution or contamination caused by growth of micro-organisms, etc. Another problem with some of the prior devices is that they are cumbersome to program and difficult to install or to network in a modem living, lodging or entertainment environment. Some prior devices have the drawback that they rely on artifacts, such as autonomous heating or ventilation processes, in the immediate vicinity of the dispensing unit. Some prior devices do not offer enough structural flexibility in order to satisfy the need for both a desired functionality and attractive design. Another major drawback with the prior devices is that all are very much orientation or position dependent. Yet another common drawback to the prior devices is that the control functions are more or less reduced to timing and sequencing of the scenting activity, which leaves the user little or no possibility to treat different scents in a different way according to his or her environment and his or her own sensitivity. In other words, the prior devices generally do not permit preferential selection of a particular scent in response to environmental parameters and/or the personal preference of the user at a particular time.
Another drawback with most of the prior devices is that they do not meet the needs created by today""s rapidly changing environmental entertainment technologies. For instance, the home environment as well as the working, lodging and entertainment environments are rapidly changing to provide new entertainment and work tools that are readily available to a growing xe2x80x9con-linexe2x80x9d population of information technology users in the home and outside of the home through the use of narrowxe2x80x94and broadband wireless systems, web-appliances, portable communication systems, PDA""s, PC""s, etc., that include separate and new smart wireless devices, xe2x80x9cnet-meetingxe2x80x9d products, home xe2x80x9cvideo-meetingxe2x80x9d products, and products that permit downloading all sorts of entertainment pieces, etc. To a limited extent, the new demand for air scenting and refreshing in these entertainment and work environments has been partially addressed by devices disclosed in EP 0 714 709 A1 to Millet et al; U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,832,320 and 5,760,873 to Wittek, and by the devices disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/942,118 and European document EP 01 1118 715.2, both to Hess et al., but none of these devices introduces a user friendly, industrially applicable, practical and rapidly deployable solution to all of the aforementioned drawbacks and none allows the user to participate in an interactive manner with a network.
One attempt to provide ambient scenting to augment a xe2x80x9cthemexe2x80x9d of an entertainment environment is disclosed in WO 00209776, WO 00209773, WO 00209772, which relates scenting activity to a thematic sensory experience, such as experienced during music, graphic arts, theater and the like, by using a CD-like scent cartridge selection technology. However, the scenting technology used has been known for a long time and the disc-like arrangement is relatively rigid, and re-usable only at the disc level; thus giving the user little flexibility, albeit a lot of choices, as far as themes are concerned. It is unlikely that any individual user will like all of the 7 fragrances contained in the above rigidly arranged disk to the same degree so that all 7 fragrances will be used up in a similar manner and time frame. Most likely, only one or a few scents will be preferred, so that the corresponding scent-containing cartridges will be used up quickly, whereas one or a few other fragrances might not be liked at all. As can be easily appreciated, the preferential use of one or several fragrances will lead to the wasteful situation where the whole disk will be disposed of because the preferred fragrances have been exhausted and the remaining excess of the non-preferred fragrances with their solvent contents are left unused.
Consequently, there exists a need for a scenting and refreshing apparatus and method that overcomes the drawbacks of the prior devices and which satisfies the public need for wholesome air quality that is both safe and pleasing to the nose, and that provides a sense of personal comfort while addressing individual personal preferences. Specifically, there is a need for a scenting and refreshing apparatus and method that hedonistically augments air quality and which can be applied to the recent emergence of entertainment and work environments associated with web appliances, portable electronic devices, downloading of entertainment and work applications, and smart home environments.
It is therefore an objective of the present invention to overcome the drawbacks of the prior devices, which include excessive bulkiness, lack of flexibility, lack of modular and integrated packaging of cartridge and dispenser, lack of scenting and refreshing efficacy, lack of priming reliability, lack of an easy networking capability for programmable scenting or disinfecting capabilities, and lack of ease of use when dealing efficiently with habituation and the need to replace or exchange scents.
It a further object of the present invention to minimize the use of solvents as much as possible.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a scenting and refreshing apparatus and method which allows freedom to apply the apparatus and method to a variety of air quality, safety, personal environment and entertainment oriented applications.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an air scenting and refreshing apparatus and method that involves the user in an interactive role as part of these air quality, safety, personal environment and entertainment-oriented applications.
It is yet another object of the air scenting and refreshing apparatus and method of the present invention to permit the user to create a network with a web appliance, portable electronic device, downloaded entertainment or work application, or a smart home environment that can be manipulated by the user to satisfy particular environmental and other preferences of the user.
It is yet another object of the air scenting and refreshing apparatus and method of the present invention to provide for maximum scent choice flexibility, on the one hand, while minimizing waste and use of harmful ingredients (e.g., solvents), on the other hand.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide an air scenting and refreshing apparatus that mixes two liquids together at the time of nebulization or just prior to the moment that the mixed liquids will be nebulized.
In accordance with the above objectives, the present invention provides, in a first preferred embodiment, an apparatus for freshening air, including: a base unit; a power supply operably connected to the base unit; a driving and switching circuit connected to be powered by the power supply; a first plug portion connected to the driving and switching circuit; and a detachable autonomous liquid droplet dispensing cartridge detachably engagable with the first plug portion. The detachable cartridge has (a) a second plug portion matingly engagable with the first plug portion, (b) a first airless bag for storing a first nebulizable liquid (c) a second airless bag for storing a second nebulizable liquid, and (d) a casing enclosing the first bag and the second bag. A nebulizer is provided connected to each bag by a respective inlet of an interface, so that, when the nebulizer operates, and first and second nebulizable liquids are contained in the first and second bags, respectively, the first nebulizable liquid flows from the first bag and the second nebulizable liquid flows from the second bag, so that the first nebulizable liquid and the second nebulizable liquid are mixed in a space before being nebulized into a combined mist by the nebulizer. The nebulizer is electrically connected to the power supply and controlled by the driving and switching circuit when the second plug portion is matingly engaged to the first plug portion.
In accordance with a second preferred embodiment of the present invention, the first preferred embodiment is made to further comprise an interface that includes a first inlet that provides a path of egress for the first liquid and a second inlet that provides a path of egress for the second liquid, so that, when the nebulizer operates, and first and second nebulizable liquids are contained in the first and second bags, respectively, the first nebulizable liquid and the second nebulizable liquid flow from the first bag and the second bag, respectively, through the interface and into the nebulizer.
In accordance with third and fourth embodiments of the present invention, the apparatus of the first embodiment is made so that the nebulizer includes a nozzle membrane that has at least one nozzle sized to disperse droplets that are about 1-7 microns in diameter in the third embodiment and the nozzle membrane is made to have at least one nozzle sized to disperse droplets that are about 5-30 microns in diameter in the fourth preferred embodiment.
In a fifth preferred embodiment of the present invention, to the elements of the second preferred embodiment is included a switch that is disposed in the driving and switching circuit, and electrically connected to the power supply, wherein the switch activates the nebulizer and the flow of the first nebulizable liquid and the second nebulizable liquid from the first airless bag and the second airless bag respectively through the interface and into the nebulizer.
In a sixth preferred embodiment of the present invention, the switch of the apparatus of the fifth preferred embodiment is made to be operable by a remote unit. In a seventh preferred embodiment of the present invention, the remote unit of the sixth preferred embodiment is made to be a wireless control unit, a personal digital assistant, a cell phone, or a web-appliance.
In an eighth preferred embodiment of the present invention, the remote unit of the sixth preferred embodiment is made to include a turbulence sensor for sensing the flow of ambient air and a logarithmic gas sensor for detecting the combined concentration of the first nebulizable liquid and the second nebulizable liquid in the ambient air.
In a ninth preferred embodiment of the present invention, the first preferred embodiment is made so that the first bag contains a first nebulizable liquid that is different from a second nebulizable liquid contained in the second bag.
In a tenth preferred embodiment of the present invention, the ninth preferred embodiment is made so that the first nebulizable liquid is a primary fragrance and the second nebulizable liquid is a disinfectant.
In an eleventh preferred embodiment of the present invention, the ninth preferred embodiment is made so that the first nebulizable liquid is a primary fragrance and the second nebulizable liquid is an accord fragrance for aesthetically enhancing the primary fragrance.
In a twelfth preferred embodiment of the present invention, the second preferred embodiment is made so that the cartridge further comprises a third airless bag for storing a third nebulizable liquid and the interface further includes a third inlet corresponding to the third airless bag, wherein the third inlet provides a path of egress for the third liquid in the third bag so that when the nebulizer operates, the first, second and third nebulizable liquids flow through the interface and are mixed in the space before being nebulized into a combined mist by the nebulizer. In a thirteenth preferred embodiment of the present invention, to the cartridge of the twelfth embodiment is added a fourth airless bag for storing a fourth nebulizable liquid and the interface further includes a fourth inlet, wherein the fourth inlet provides a path of egress for the fourth liquid in the fourth bag so that when the nebulizer operates the first, second, third and fourth nebulizable liquids flow through the interface and are mixed in the space before being nebulized into a combined mist by the nebulizer.
In a fourteenth embodiment of the present invention, a system for refreshing air is provided that comprises at least two air refreshing apparatuses and a power supply. Each individual apparatus includes a base unit, wherein the power supply is operably connected to the base unit; a driving and switching circuit connected to be powered by the power supply; a first plug portion connected to the driving and switching circuit; and a detachable autonomous liquid droplet dispensing cartridge detachably engagable with the first plug portion. The detachable cartridge includes (a) a second plug portion matingly engagable with the first plug portion, (b) a first airless bag for storing a first nebulizable liquid, (c) a second airless bag for storing a second nebulizable liquid, and (d) a casing enclosing the first bag and the second bag. A nebulizer is provided connected to each bag by a respective inlet of an interface, so that, when the nebulizer operates, and first and second liquids are contained in the first and second bags, respectively, the first nebulizable liquid flows from the first bag and the second nebulizable liquid flows from the second bag so that the first nebulizable liquid and the second nebulizable liquid are mixed in a space before being nebulized into a combined mist by the nebulizer. The nebulizer is electrically connected to the power supply and controlled by the driving and switching circuit when the electronic connector engages the cartridge.
In a fifteenth embodiment of the present invention, the system of the fourteenth embodiment is integrated into an HVAC duct.
The sixteenth preferred embodiment of the present invention is a method for refreshing air comprising the steps of (a) providing at least one autonomous liquid droplet dispensing cartridge having multiple airless bags, wherein each bag contains a nebulizable fluid and each bag is connected to an interface, and the interface is connected to a nebulizer, so that there is a path of egress from each bag to the nebulizer through which nebulizable fluid flows to the nebulizer; (b) flowing the nebulizable fluid from each bag to the nebulizer; (c) mixing the nebulizable fluid from each bag in a space to provide a mixed fluid; and (d) nebulizing the mixed fluid to provide a combined mist.
A seventeenth preferred embodiment of the present invention utilizes the steps in accordance with the sixteenth preferred embodiment and further requires that the flow of nebulizable fluid is activated by a signal from a wireless control unit.
An eighteenth preferred embodiment of the present invention utilizes the steps in accordance with the sixteenth preferred embodiment and further requires that nebulizing of the mixed fluid is controlled to maintain a perceived air quality of the ambient air.
Further objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the Detailed Description of Preferred Embodiments, which follows, when considered together with the attached drawings.